How Often Do You Service Your Merc?

[Gazwould]

Neither looks too good , Bosch I have now and previous Hengst are top quality .

 

[markjay]

View attachment 99758
Took this a few weeks ago , I must admit I was surprised by the similarity .
I use MB , Bosch,Mann as oil and air filters . Anything as a pollen filter (the new frecious ones)
Oil change every 5000 ish , buying 20L tubs from MB ( I or Mannol at the moment as they were cheap ) .
ATF (and diff oil ) every 30-40k on both cars , but the 5g I dump the sump ATF every year as it’s so easy and then add 4L of Fuchs ATF for £28 .

I am all for genuine parts, but just to say that when you can see the original manufacturer's part number, e.g. in this case MANN HU 821, then if you buy a MANN filter (not MB-branded) with the exact same part number, you will get an identical part with identical quality, though obviously different warranty T&C.

But if you buy any after-market part that does not have the same manufacturer's part number as the genuine MB-branded part, even if it is made by the same manufacturer (or other reputable manufacturers), there's no guarantee that the quality and performance will be the same as the genuine part.

This is not to say that other parts are necessarily of lesser quality, they may or may not be (or they may even be better), but just to say that the above is the only way you can 100% match the quality of the genuine part.

BTW, I replaced the hydrobushes on my W204 three years ago because they were tired, I bought new original MB bushes, but later thought it might have been a mistake - the hydrobushes are apparently a 'known issue', so perhaps what I should have done was to find out who made the genuine bushes for MB, then buy bushes from a different (reputable) manufacturer, e.g. Lemforder or TRW etc. (Thankfully, three years later, the hydrobushes are still fine ).

So genuine isn't always the best and it's not always easy to work out what the differences are, unless you're in the trade and have a first hand experience with a range of products and manufacturers and know what's what. But as a rule, if you always buy genuine parts, or parts that are identical to the genuine part, then more often than not you will have done the right thing.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Europarts posting an advertisement on this site????

They were official sponsors at the time.

 

[oldmedic999]

I keep to Merc parts only. Very little difference in price. Even the oil is best and works very well. only problem i have had was the heat exchanger. As I am a Veteran I got it done for under £300. This was an all day Job. I supplied the oil and parts from Mercedes. All in around £500. The old seals were gone, replacements were Purple. Not the best place to put a heat exchanger. Now goes like a steam train. 136.000 miles.

 

[gianton]

I keep short service intervals, on my 2013 S204 C250 CDI 4Matic with 212k miles as of today (maintained at a local MB indie):

- Engine oil/filter every 5.000 miles ( Fuchs TITAN GT1 PRO C-3 5W-30 & Mahle or Hengst oil filter)
- Fuel filter and air filter every 20.000 miles (Mahle or Hengst for both)
- Cabin filter every year (Mann FreciousPlus)
- Oil/filter of transmission including TC flush (7g+) every 50.000 miles ( FUCHS TITAN ATF 7134 FE Premium Performance and MB original filter/gasket etc)
- Brake fluid every 2 years (MB original)
- Coolant fluid every 3 years ( Castrol Radicool NF)
- Differential fluid (front and back) every 60.000 miles ( FUCHS TITAN SINTOPOID FE SAE 75W-85)

I plan on keeping the car at least for four more years and it drives as it was new. BTW in Greece weather is a lot warmer than in UK and we got a lot of dust too.